


The Element of Surprise

by imma_redshirt



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Short, That's it, it's short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 17:52:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10541517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imma_redshirt/pseuds/imma_redshirt
Summary: Spock did not enjoy the doctor's use of the element of surprise on Altimid. He did, however, appreciate its usefulness--when used against the doctor himself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Why do I always write these things just hours before work? Why?
> 
> Enjoy!

“We must jump, Doctor!”

Doctor McCoy took a single step towards the edge of the cliff, peered over the edge, then turned an incredulous look on Spock. 

“Jump? Into _that_? Have you lost your goddamned _mind_?”

Spock stepped closer to the edge and glanced down. Approximately 6 meters below, clouds of electric blue energy whirled around each other like a small cyclone. The miniature storm measured about 10 meters in diameter, tendrils of the blue energy whipping up and to the sides at random intervals. Above them, the sky had darkened, as dark grey cumulus clouds moved in from the west. And behind them, from the cover of the thick forest, the shrieks and howls of their pursuers grew closer.

“It is the only way to safely elude the Elrudian Wolves--”

“ _Safely?_ That is the farthest thing from safe I’ve ever seen in my entire goddamn life--”

“--and, if my calculations are correct, the energy storm will transport us to the opposite side of the planet, where the Enterprise is waiting--”

“If your calculations are correct! And what if they’re wrong, Spock?”

“--to beam us up.” 

McCoy craned his neck to just barely look over the edge, having moved back three steps as they talked. Wide eyed and breathing hard, the doctor shook his head and stepped back even further. “No. No, you can forget it Spock, I’m not jumping into that!”

This was their first encounter with the energy storm, but not the first time Spock had studied it. Earlier that day, while he and the doctor had been lost in an abandoned city, he had come across a thick, leather bound book in a dilapidated library. The first ten pages had detailed the effects of the rare, erratic blue energy that the wiped-out civilization had been familiar with. He’d only had twelve minutes to study it, though, as the doctor had yelled for assistance when a pack of wolf-like beasts had begun to stalk him through the streets outside.

Now, face to face with the storm itself, Spock calculated that there was a 47.8 percent chance that the storm would act as means of transportation to a distant point across the planet, based on what little information he had studied.

There was also a 52.2 percent chance that it would simply eradicate their atoms.

Leonard, of course, did not need to know that.

“It is our only means of escape, Doctor! We will not survive another encounter with the wolves!”

“We’ll just--just run around them--”

“ _Leonard._ ” Spock stepped closer as the doctor locked eyes with him. “We _must_ jump. We have a greater chance at survival with the energy storm than with the wolves.”

A long, low howl sounded behind them, closer than before, and a chorus of shrieks followed it. McCoy’s eyes grew wider. He licked his lips and looked again at the storm.

“You said this thing is like a giant transporter?”

“Very similar, yes.”

“It’ll just be like a transporter beam?”

Spock quirked his head. “Theoretically.”

At that moment, the storm chose to make Spock’s efforts ever more difficult by sprouting three tails of energy that whipped up and licked the edge of the cliff where they stood. 

“Jesus,” McCoy yelped and stumbled back. He waved his hands, furious, and turned his back on the storm to stare challengingly at the forest. “No! You go, Spock, I’ll walk!”

Spock fought a too-human huff and grabbed McCoy’s shoulder. “The Enterprise will not be allowed to remain nearby for much longer, Doctor! You will be left behind!”

McCoy slapped Spock’s hand away. “Then I’ll hitch a ride!”

Another howl sounded, and a creature nine feet long burst from the edge of the forest. It rushed towards them, it’s pack members following close behind, shrieking and howling as they closed in.

“Shit!” McCoy moved closer to Spock, but remained a good distance from the cliff’s edge. “Spock, get out of here!”

With McCoy so close, and the chances of death so incredibly high, Spock was suddenly reminded of an incident that happened not too long ago, and the doctor’s use of surprise to make his efforts at helping Spock… easier.

Spock was finally presented with the chance to use the doctor’s own tactics against him.

To the benefit of both of them, of course.

McCoy was still breathing hard when Spock took hold of his elbow and pulled him close.

The doctor cursed. “Hey! Let go, I’m stayin’ right here--”

“Doctor, what is your favorite season on Earth?”

McCoy ceased his efforts at breaking free and blinked at him. “What? What the hell has that got to do with any--”

Spock did not hear the rest of his sentence, as the doctor’s words crescendoed into a long yell of fear and fury when Spock clutched him close and flung them both over the cliff’s edge and into the blue storm.

McCoy was suddenly clinging to him, fingers digging deep into his sides as they fell. Spock wrapped his arms as best he could around the doctor’s wide shoulders, and tangled their legs together, and held tight as energy crackled around them. Tongues of blue energy licked at their bodies, and under their skin, and between the very atoms that made them, and as they began to disintegrate, Spock was once again certain that the element of surprise did _not_ lessen the pain of anything.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

“I can’t believe you did it, you goddamn asshole.”

Spock opened his eyes. 

He was on his back against hard ground, and sprawled on top of him, was McCoy. The doctor’s face was tucked in against Spock’s neck, hands fisted against his chest. 

Every muscle, every bone, hurt. Even his eyes burned, and Spock shut them to alleviate the pain. The doctor’s presence on top of him was, oddly enough, a comfort. It was clear evidence that his theory had been correct, his actions had been not been in vain, and that they were both alive.

It took a moment for Spock to realize that they were also both trembling.

With a groan, McCoy thumped a fist against Spock’s chest, panting into the Vulcan’s neck.

“You Vulcan asshole. You could have killed us.”

Spock licked his dry lips before answering breathlessly, “The wolves would have killed us had we not jumped, doctor. My actions, at least, had two possible outcomes, rather than one.”

“Whatever,” McCoy said. 

They both took a moment just to breathe, and in that silence, Spock heard the unmistakable sound of a transporter beam, some distance away, followed by a faint cry of “Found ‘em, over here!”

“Thank God,” McCoy groaned, and shifted as if to roll off Spock’s chest, but instead remained where he was. After a moment, he mumbled, “Did you ask me what my favorite season was?”

Spock’s breath was coming more easily. He sighed. “I did.”

“The _hell_ did you do that for?”

Spock raised an eyebrow, though the doctor could not see it. “I believe I was once told that surprise may lessen the pain of an action that followed it.”

There was a pause. 

“...well, that’s a load of bullshit.”

“Agreed, Doctor.”

Footsteps sounded nearby, and Jim’s familiar voice issued out orders to an accompanying security team. Had Spock been human, he might have experienced a surge of overwhelming relief.

Above him, McCoy finally rolled off, and lay sprawled at his side.

“And to think,” McCoy said. “I was going to ask you to dinner and everything.”

“...What?”

“How’s that for a surprise?”

“Doctor--”

“Shh, they're here to rescue us.”

As Jim kneeled by his side, Spock assured himself that the doctor’s words were one surprise the human was _not_ going to get away with. Spock did, after all, have a few surprises of his own.

(The doctor would certainly be surprised to find a pleasant meal laid out before him in his room after a shift, Spock awaiting his arrival, without warning, _before_ the doctor could invite _him_ to dinner. How was _that_ for a surprise, doctor?)


End file.
